The Mirage Factory: Illusion, Imagination, and the Invention of Los Angeles

From bestselling author Gary Krist, the story of the metropolis that never should have been and the visionaries who dreamed it into reality

Little more than a century ago, the southern coast of California—bone-dry, harbor-less, isolated by deserts and mountain ranges—seemed destined to remain scrappy farmland. Then, as if overnight, one of the world’s iconic cities emerged. At the heart of Los Angeles’ meteoric rise were three flawed visionaries: William Mulholland, an immigrant ditch-digge...